yes but America is also a country which gets upset at the idea of mothers breast feeding in public and caused a huge fuss when Janet Jackson’s boob popped out during a televised dance routine.

A country where the notion of nude sun bathing (or nudity in general) is considered ungodly – not a great country to use as an example of even handed healthiness towards matters of sexuality full stop (period) lol

@Staircase2……hence the reason i said “get a room, bud”
Did i miss something.. No-one was using the USA as an example of even handedness . Quite the opposite. Are you on the same thread as the rest of us??

Your generalizing are funny; but, America is not a country but two continents: North America and South America. The two continents are made up of various countries: Brazil, Mexico, Canada, Cuba, USA, Colombia, Argentina, Peru and the others. Come on, don’t let them think we are stupid over here.

@Ray….while i don’t agree with Staircase’s post as you can see from my reply, to give a geography lecture is pedantic to say the least.. On this side of the pond we refer generally to the US as America and usually refer to South America as south America. However i failed to grasp the point of your post other than that. as staircase’s post in no way inferred that the USA was stupid, just being peversely uptight about matters of sexuality while being on the otherhand ok , it would seem with murder and violence.

Sorry, but I see lots of straights pulling public sex. More than I’ve ever seen Gay, which has been never. Straights often think THEY can have public sex because they’re STRAIGHT and it’s “normal”. I saw two doing it on a picnic table in plain view- not a pleasant experience. Personally everyone should take the play home, or at least to a VERY secluded spot.

When I was a police officer I only was sent to complaints of public sexual activity amongst heterosexuals … never found any gay guys (did look lol) or have complaints against any gay guys …
Those heterosexuals I did encounter e.g. in an open air car park (classy!) believed they had the right to offend other people – as they stated, in interview, that if people didnt like it they weren’t required to watch …
So, William, my experience is very much the opposite of you comment ….

I was thinking that. I do feel a bit sorry for the management too, although I was laughing while reading the article..

From a business point of view how many customers would go to a gym/ sauna, when they genuinly wanted to use it for that purpose, and then return after discovering that the gym was full of people shagging (and they didn’t want to join in)?

The issue is that people were having sex in the sauna – big deal.
I assume that they were the only people in there at the time – the fact that the report says it was ‘suspected’ (” arrested on suspicion of outraging public decency”).

The thing is – if noone was there aside from themselves how could there be any ‘public’ there to be indulging in ‘outraged’ ‘decency’.

As a public Gym it just wasn’t the place to have sex. If you need to have it away that bad get a room, Period. Its no wonder the the homophobes have such a low opinion of us. You don’t see the breeders at it on every street corner. Same with Pride parades …they have become an exercise in provocation of the lowest….. Queens prancing about in leather chaps with their ar5es hanging out.

You really ought to go to Erotica London, or the annual Fetish exhibition, see how the hetties do it exactly the same as us. If you don’t think there aren’t straight people running around in leather with their ar5es then you are in need of education.

They aren’t running around the streets like that tho.and don’y worry there’s nothing wrong with my education leastway nothing i could ever learn from the likes of you who thinks that as you’ve been out for a couple of years that you’ve seen it all. Just because the breeders make dicks of themselves don’t mean we have to always slavishly copy them. Next you’ll be saying we should be getting married and divorcing like them……..Or how about getting pregannt left and right and murdering the unborn……..Twats like you make me sorry i was born the way i was 60 years ago.

If it was a Gay sauna Staircase2 I guess I would agree but it was a gym used by the public as a whole. It may have been just those two but don’t staff count? Do they not have the right to walk around their gym without be confronted with anybody having sex? I think also as stated earlier if there is also a problem with people having sex and not ‘cleaning up’ after themselves is it right to expect staff to have to mop it up as well as other user having to put up with seeing it?

No, there is a time and a place and clearly this ain’t it. If anything it just shows some, yet again, think too much of themselves and not others.

I feel that it s selfish and stupid to not think about others around them. Homophones and other rubbish aside, if I were to take my 8 yo nephew for a swim at virgin gym and they walked passed the sauna/steam room and saw things that happening I would be horrified.

The sauna and steam rooms are accessible from the showers and change rooms but from what I gather lots of these things happen in the toilet cubicles, etc. at the end of the day what that did was illegal and who you share your private adult fun-time with is your business and shouldn’t be potentially exposing venerable people to that kind of behaviour

You have a point Staircase2 – I suspect there was no one else in the sauna – but, the fact the police were called suggests others were aware and someone was offended …
As much as I have no problem with this behaviour – not sure a mixed gym is the most advisable place to engage in it

I’m disappointed to learn of heavy-handed approach by staff, but it seems they’re fed up with ‘sauna action’ etc. The gym could have banned them and then made it public as to why gay clients were asked to leave. End of.
There are gay saunas for sex if they wanted such, so guys – get thee to a gay sauna or get a room would ya? If you can afford gym fees you can pay for a hotel room if your mammas don’t let you bring cock home.

It’s difficult this one because as said if it had been between a straight couple it may have been differently.

However as said the gym has been trying to deal with this problem. I am all for sex in public places just so long as it doesn’t affect anyone else other than those consenting but clearly this isn’t the place.

It sounds more like the gym reached the last straw and is using this as a deterrent to warn others.

Of course a straight man can’t go into a women’s area, The moment a man is seen going into a female changing room they are thrown out. Unless they are clever enough not to get caught. These two weren’t clever enough to not get caught.

do you honestly believe that teenage pregnancy rates would be lower if they were banned from using childrens play areas? lol (or perhaps if they didnt have spots?!)
Or are you suggesting that its because adults are watching them that drives up the pregnancy rate? – there can be no ‘outraged public decency’ (by definition) if theres noone watching….

I dont think theres anything disrespectful about people having sex in public places – how can there be something disrespectful about engaging in an activity without which none of us would even exist? Thats just puritanical nonsense.

It could be argued that sex should be a private matter but even that argument doesnt hold much water if you examine the issue properly.

The thing which would bring down teenage pregnancy rates is education and more important the teaching of emotional literacy. Teaching our kids how to say, and that its ok to say, ‘no’ and that having sex has the potential to create babies and that we should be mindful of that when deciding when/if and HOW to have sex.

Our culture teaches them that sex is a rite of passage – how can we then be surprised to then find out that adolescents go out and endulge in sex? lol

I’ve had sex in saunas of gyms, but am always careful nobody could walk in on me, and if I cum, I do it on a towel rather than the floor. So it sounds like these guys weren’t very careful – or else the gym was spying on them without them knowing.

Arresting people won’t stop it. It’ll just mean people go elsewhere. I agree that this is a heavy-handed approach. They should have been asked to stop, and if that doesn’t work, have a sauna attendant. That tends to put people off.

As for people saying “go to a gay sauna” – not everyone is out of the closet and feels comfortable going to them.

Likewise Tom in my time but I do think that this is a case of a continuing problem. I’m sure if it was on the odd occasion it wouldn’t be seen but once a place gets that kind of reputation like this story it just gets worse and the business has to consider if that reputation is making the business suffer.

I’ve never understood how much sex you can have in a sauna – if you can manage sex then the sauna clearly isn’t hot enough. It’s exhausting enough to sit and chat if you’re doing it right. Mind you, we have it hotter in Finland. ;-)

Voyeurs and exhibitionists springs to mind, they should be prosecuted for their actions as it is against the law, not an exclusively gay sauna and they know it! I honestly don’t understand why people would even want take such risks.

“Outraging public decency” is just the name of an old and dusty common law offence that covers a huge array of things. Suffice it to say that shagging in public where anyone can see you is an offence. You can call it “hunting wabbits” instead of “outraging public decency” if that helps. Until the law is codified properly, it will be a bit of an anachronism.

Whilst I’m not condoning it, it isn’t actually a public place, its a private members club. They weren’t charged because they didn’t commit the offense they were arrested for.

Its like me coming round to your house and having sex with someone on the sofa. You might not like it (although of course you might), but the fact that you don’t like it, doesn’t make it an ‘offense’ you can have me arrested for.

You could ask me to leave (preferably after I’d finished) and if I refused you could call the police, and under normal circumstances , I (or we if you wanted my friend to go as well) would be escorted from the premises to prevent breach of the peace, but its not a ‘public’ act in a ‘public’ place.

I would say the police have not laid themselves open to action for false arrest.

@SMC I don’t agree. The police were acting on a complaint from a member of the public, albeit a staff member and must by law act on it. They weren’t arrested just taken in for questioning and and then released. The matter is finished when they weren’t charged. However a caution would have been in order to teach them a lesson…..Uncle of 2 policemen.

The term “private” has some complex legal connotations, and isn’t as cut and dried as you make out. If you have sex in the middle of a public forest miles from anywhere, and you take precautions not to be seen, it can be considered “private”, whereas although this is a private club, it is being used by members of the public, whether they paid to be there or not, so it is considered a public act.

One could almost use the smoking ban as an analogy. If you can’t smoke there, chances are you can’t have sex there either. :)

Not in Scotland. Here we have a general offence – “public indecency” – which covers sexual activity in a place where it is likely to alarm or distress members of the public. Of course sex in a toilet might well be that, but probably not if it was done quietly in a cubicle in a way that no-one else was likely to know. In England and Wales, even done silently in a locked cubilcle it would be a crime.

Its an odd one about the public toilet as the general thrust of the new law is that public sex is permissible provided the is no liklihood another person will be offended, but its a clear black and white no for public toilets

Sex it public places is a divisive issue. Strictly speaking it’s not illegal, but can be if witnessed [or likely to be witnessed] by others who object. In this instance it seems a big error of judgement on the part of the two men involved, as it’s likely that other people could easily witness them having sex. I agree that there have probably been several complaints in the past and perhaps they’ve been the unlucky ones. That said, we don’t know enough about the case to know if anyone witnessed them having sex and were ‘enraged’ as a result. The police seem to have dealt with the matter fairly sensibly. A civil remedy such as a membership ban might be a more appropriate deterrent. My message for men who have sex in public places would be to think carefully and act responsibly. Just because a site is listed on Squirt doesn’t make it okay. Getting a criminal record could have dire consequences – do you really want ‘sexual offence’ to appear on you police record for the rest of your life?

excellent
fed up being overtly crusied by guys who aren’t even on the gym floor – and usually bi or ‘str8 who suck cock’ – they need to go to charriots or get a life so we can shower or sauna in peace.

@Tom Stoppard re your quote; and if I cum, I do it on a towel rather than the floor…….that’s very considerate of you Tom, very considerate indeed- here have a biscuit *pats Tom’s head*. Now Tom what would you use to mop up your cum in the loo of a train or the woods? I’m making the assumption you get your freak on in these places too if you’ve been doing it at the gym.

Why do any of us care? Why does Pink News give this front page space, when there are serious issues out there affecting gay people. It’s common sense that there are consequences to having sex in a public place.

If Virgin gyms piss off their gay membership the will end up loosing about half of their male membership here in London. In the Virigin I go to in W London we often outnumber the straight guys. Clearly these guys were being totally indiscreet – perhaps they should have used one of the enclosed shower cubicles which all Virigin gyms have…. On the other hand to call the police is over the top when their membership could have been revoked. I’m suprised at the general negative attitudes re sex in public places in these comments…its gone on since time immemorial – and as long as it is totally discreet beyond the gaze of the general public or their possibly stumbling on such activities it should not be a problem. I thought we had got over all that. Remember even the last government was thinking of decriminalising sex in toilets as long as it was in a locked contained cubicle!

Sex in public (gay or straight) is against the law. It’s as easy as that. Maybe a few decades ago when most gay men were in the closet and it was hard to meet someone else gay to have a romp with, I would have a little more sympathy. In this day and age where it is so easy to get anonymously laid by someone online, I don’t know why people need to meet and screw in gyms any more. Show some respect for the gym facility and move your anonymous cruising to the internet.

Totally my opinion as well. it’s about time these people accepted times have changed for gay people, hopefully for the better, but you can’t have your cake and eat it. Cruising and cottaging should be now considered a historical legacy, not an ongoing gay right.

What blatant double standards! Most likely the staff would have turned a blind eye to a straight couple having sex. I’ve heard countless examples of straight male staff at high-end gyms hooking up with the clientele. This, as far as I’m aware, is part of gym culture. The gym is undeniably a sexualised environment from the off. The customer is fare game, and the instructors aren’t exactly subtle about the reason they went into the fitness business. People go there to be seen, to check out the bodies, honing their own attractiveness to improve their chances of sex. Public decency? Try any town centre on a Friday and Saturday night. Half-naked men and women virtually rutting in the streets like dogs, and the police turn a blind eye because this is considered normal, healthy behaviour. Two gay men have sex in the privacy of what is essentially a private members club and the police are called. The most severe reprimand a man and woman would have got is a knowing look on the way out.

“What blatant double standards! Most likely the staff would have turned a blind eye to a straight couple having sex.”
How can you make accusations like that based on your opinion?
“most likely?” How do you know? Do you know these people?

You are making heterophobic remarks based on bullsh|t and zero evidence.

Firstly, it’s a crime for reason. Virgin Gyms cater for families and its stupid not to think about the wider implications of such behaviour

Secondly, we are human beings not animals. We possess higher cognitive abilities that can override out primal urges. I fear those of use cannot exercise that ability, that sets us apart from most animals, are regressing.

Thirdly, it is offensive to insinuate that fitness personnel use sexuality to sell their product, even though this is an element of the business for some people most fitness professions are athletes, competitors, and some past professional sports men and women who have worked very hard to gain their degrees and those skills that make them brilliant at what they do. They are extremely knowledgeable and professional individuals (gay and straight) who I’m sure would not like to work in an environment where they are constantly faced with inappropriate behaviour as would anyone

There’s a time and place for everything, including sex. A public venue definitely isn’t the place for straights or gays. This only fuels homophobia and religious nutters when they say we’re sex craven and predatory. These two were clearly acting irresponsibly without any regard to having respect for others let alone themselves, purely for selfish reasons. Sometimes we can be our own worst enemy. Stephen Green, Melanie Phillips and hte Daily Mail will be having a field day.

So someone cant use the gym to get fit and strong for their sport?…..and if they do go to the gym its because they are trying to make myself more attractive, even if they have been married for several years and their partner couldn’t care less if they were chubbier or skinnier,

Unfortunately, kind sir, your argument is very weak and holds no water

Oh no, I would never deny people go to the gym to feel fit and healthy. This, however, is a precursor to the primary goal of looking good. I don’t remember the last Mr Universe winning the competition because of how marvellous the egg whites made his farts smell.

If you want to get into a civilised dialogue, please don’t dismiss my comments as “bulls__t”. I don’t care what issues you have with other contributors on these forums, that’s just not how I roll.

If you take the time to re-read my original post, you’ll see that my argument is based fact, not opinion – examples of heterosexual people having sex at the gym and how the staff have subsequently dealt with it. In other words, personal testimonials from people who work in the fitness industry. I haven’t plucked the information from thin air, nor is it “heterophobic” to suggest that – heaven forbid! – straight people have sex in public places. If you don’t want to take on board this information, fair enough, but I shouldn’t have to produce a certificate of accreditation every time I make a point.

OK, so sometimes I play Devil’s advocate, I admit, but I prefer to question people’s motives instead of just jumping on the gravy train and nodding profoundly at the direction everyone else is taking.

I have to say though, I think maybe the world is turning considering the amount of people here who criticised the couple and supported the police action.

I just wish people would stop this straw-man attitude of immediately saying “Well they do it, so why can’t we?” As far as I am concerned anyone having sex in public should be arrested.
Sexuality doesn’t even enter into the equation.

The beast with two backs??? The very idea! *clutches pearls, fans self with Daily Mail* Call me crazy, but perhaps they weren’t doing it for procreation. In future, might I suggest a spell in Broadmoor for anyone at Virgin Gyms with the temerity to so much as THINK homosexual thoughts. The defence that someone slipped in the steam room whilst giving the Heimlich Maneuver just won’t wash with the Descendants of Mary Whitehouse on this board, Your Honour. (However, I’m quite sure they’d like to “review” the footage.)

The beast with two backs doesnt have to be only for procreation. Puhlease cut the BS about this being a Mary Whitehouse vendetta, if you wanna have anyform of sex in your own home I couldnt care less. However, there are laws, anybody having any type of sex in public is illegal.
I dont want to see it, im sure parents dont want their kids to see it. Its a gym, not a meeting place to have sex.

I would say the same were it two heterosexual who had been caught.

Also, im usually to nakered after the gym to even think about having sex for a couple of hours, especially in a sauna. So I think someone should tell these two to put more effort in as they are clearly not trying hard enough at the gym.

Silly comment really if you think about it, firstly, sex in a “public” place like that it’s a crime for reason. Virgin Gyms cater for families and it’s stupid not to think about the wider implications of such behaviour

Secondly, do we not live in an inclusive society?!? If so that means that we respect ALL others and recognise that gyms are not just for gay men they are for people. there are other places where you can sex in the sauna, and in fact others places where you can have half naked workouts in the exclusive company of gay men. My local virgin active/fitness first/LA fitness should not be that place

Come on, at what point does public sex become unacceptable? Only when people walk in and catch you? The fact is, if they want to have sex in a sauna, there are plenty of gay sauna’s to do this in. The second fact is, it is illegal for gay or straight people to do this. Cruise in the gym, take home to your house to shag – simple.

@ GE When will you airhead queens get it into your thick skulls that it had NOTHING to do with morality. No-one is saying they shouldnt shag some brains into each other. The problem was with where they were doing it. And Arthur it wasn’t ONe incident. The staff have been complaing about it for ages, having to go in and wipe up some mess left by inconsiderate idiots. Customers have been complaining about sitting down in iother peeps cum ffs.
I suppose the place will go under GE now that they aren’t getting your pathetic custom anymore..Wise up all of you and GET A FU*KIN ROOM>

Paddy it was ONE incident to the police NOT SEVERAL, The London City Police shouldn’t be going off running to all the gyms like the Iranian Morality police over this ONE incident. I have serious concern about the actions of the London City Police

And Paddy you need to calm down and please don’t insult me.

I have every right to spend my money where I want, and this gym was clearly too heavy handed. And other people who agree and stop custom have every right to their views too whether you agree or not paddy.

You’ve only heard about one incident; the police have been called for several incidents. In fact there were a good number incidents in one day, even with the staff very politely asking people to leave and then banning them from coming to that gym. A soft touch wasn’t working from what I have been told and stronger stand was needed.

Is it right that people drop litter? Is it right that dogs foul in public places? Is it right that car fumes polute the atmosphere? Is it right that nuclear power stations are allowed to emit radiation into the atmosphere? Is it right that……………for gods sake, are you for real? Slip on it and injure themselves? WTF are you going on about?

@ Edward…..”WTF are you going on about”
More to the point are you for real to ask that question after 188 comments. Are you really saying you dont know what he is on about. Have you escaped from somewhere secure or what???

Jock, I think someone who leaves 300 comments a week on pinknews is more probably the loner – its kinda sad really – get a life mate. There’s more to being alive than arguing with people on a gay news website.

I don’t see how it’s “outraging public decency” if the only way to witness it is to tiptoe up to he sauna door and peer through the keyhole. Yes, it’s happening in a public place, but not in front of anyone. This kind of enforcement makes having a shag in your tent while out camping in the woods illegal, you know.

A sauna is a private space inside of a public accommodation. And we all know that these “decency” laws are disproportionally targeted at homosexual activity. My conclusion is that they are unfair and should be abolished.

I agree Friday Jones. Why are so many Gays prepared to follow the narrow morality fo the Straight world shame on you Virgin Active makes millions out of Gays calling the police was an over reaction. People ask why not go to a Gay sauna half the fun is watching straight men finding their gay side in the gym sauna. You are all sooo old fashioned

@ Nich Anthony……..Morality has nothing to do with it…the law does.they were breaking the law end of. We whinge when we see th religious try ing to ignore the law because they think they should be somehow exempt. No one is exempt from the law not even air head queens like you. Warnings had been given fro years about this sort of behaviour in this gym and the staff finally had enough. No one wants to go in a sauna and be slipping and sliding up to their knees in cum left behind by who knows. Yeuk. Grow up and get a room if you wanna shag.

@friday jones …What a complete load of tosh…….a tent in the woods or indeed in the middle of Glastonbury festival is, with the flap closed a private space and you can do as you please in there. On the other hand a sauna in a gym is NOT a private space as it is open to any client attending the gym at any time and is not provided so a couple of idiots can rut like a pair of rabbits. The police let these two idiots off way too easy and when you grow up you may eventually see that..

Now you are showing yourself up to being the utter idiot you are. There is nothing self riteous about sloshing about in someone else’s cum who has perhaps aids or hepatitis. Like i said go get a room if you want a shag.

I’m thinking your very young to be so immature, ignorant, selfish as well as arrogant. It’s not very attractive.

A business has Every right to ask people to not have sex on their premises, they are not a brothel, they are a gym. They have duty to provide a safe enviroment to all it’s members and member have no right to disrespect that. The gym isn’t there to aid people should can’t control their ‘stiffy’ like some adolesent teenager on heat for anything, moving or not.

Calm down paddy. Whatever your issue is with sex – stop hanging it on everyone else. Two men get caught having sex in a gym sauna – so what? There is no argument. It’s no big deal – no one was hurt, no one had anything stolen, no one lost their life, nothing bad happened. It’s just sex between two consenting adults. What’s the big deal?

There can be no problem where the sauna is a gay sauna for the purpose of having sex. If, however, it is a gym sauna for use as such, then having sex in such a place could “outrage public decency” as it seems to be termed.

it serves them right! cannot understand why some gay comentators here still use the fact “had it been a straight couple”! well, the gym sauna is not a gay sauna and they should have had not done it. whats wrong with some gay men? well, then its no surprised that we all look a sex-crazed species!

That would be like saying heterosexuals look like a violence-crazed species. Or have you not read the news over the last few thousand years – where heterosexuals blow one another up in the name of peace.

you are missing the point! now this is acceptable?
gay or straight this sort of behavious is not aqcceptable in my opinion! am gay so I know that “two men have sex” – I am well over it. you’ve lost a good opportunity to avoid talking rubbish!

No, you missed the point – two men having sex does not make it ‘no surprise that we look like a sex crazed species’ – anymore than ‘heterosexual man kills heterosexual man’ does not make it ‘no surprise that heterosexuals are a violence-crazed species’.

My point is that you are saying it’s no surprise that people think LGBT are sex crazed because two men get caught having sex. heterosexual men get caught killing people all the time – everyday – it doesn’t mean that homosexuals have the right to call them ‘violence crazed’. You are stereotyping LGBT behaviour because of two men getting caught having sex. That’s an ill thought out assumption to make.

and btw, there’s nothing wrong with having sex – so there’s nothing wrong with ‘some gay men’ who have sex.

@ Edward …It is you that is completely missing the point. No one is surprised at two gay men having sex or for that matter getting caught. The point is Where they were having sex…in a gym frequented by the general public and indeed families.. Although i think you may actually be ignoring the point to make your argument seem valid as you studiously avoided mentioning the word gym. And you rambling rubbish about hettie violence is just that rubbish. There is basically no difference between Gay or Het men other than the fact of their sexual orientation Gay men are just as violent as their “straight counterparts.
And finally noone on this thread said it was wrong to have sex We all do it, the problem with these two idiots is WHERE the were doing it.

I used to go to this gym years ago when it was a Holmes Place and I remember getting the giggles with some strangers when they put up a sign saying that “inappropriate behaviour” would not be tolerated!

It’s sad that people feel it’s ok to do this sort of thing in public, especially when there are so many sex on premises venues available, there are at least a couple of saunas easy distances from this gym.

I’ve got no problem with people hooking up, but I’d be horrified if someone tried it on with me or with my fella somewhere like a normal gym.

Gay men have been criminalised and persecuted for 2000 odd years.
I have a problem with gay men being criminalised (or arrested) for doing gay sex (even in a gym) by an institution that has such a large gay clientelle.
The (sexual) act is out of order, but not criminal.

They were released without charge, mores the pity. And gay men aren’t arrested for”doing sex ” as you so quaintly put it. They are however answereable to the law like all UK citizens.. We can’t very well raise i rumpus (rightly so) about christians wanting to be above the law and then expect to be able to break the law ourselves. Can you just imagine the headlines in the Daily Hate Wail. A gym where the general public are is not an appropriate place for sex gay or hettie. End of.

@PT…They werent arrested as the police decided to let them off with a warning They were taken in for questioning end of. You aren’t arrested until the police are sure a crime has been comitted and that they will proceed with prosecution >In this case they got off, mores the pity.

Nich Anthony ………….could you define “self righteous ” in relation to any of my posts, which are all broadly in agreeance with the majority of posts on this thread, or indeed how you could possibly construe tham to be in anyway judgemental???

@Greg…. You say you can’t take me seriously and then have the temerity to say that an iPhone is valued at £700 . Who or what do you think you are talking to ?… a twelve year old??. If you paid £700 for an iPhone you are an even bigger idiot than i first expected. iPhones retail for around £340 without a contract. I wind nobody up .. I state the truth concisely and without rancour. If that winds you up it is you who has the problem, not me.

Paddy, ever consider that there might have been more than an iPhone in his locker? Maybe that huge hole in your way of thinking extends to other aspects of this situation, and you’d do yourself a better service listening than talking when you don’t know what’s what.

@Greg …they certainly seen you coming from a long way off too. Like i said anyone who pays £700 for a phone shouldn’t be allowed out alone….If you can afford £700 for a phone what were you doing in a dump like that…

You’re so concerned about this that it sounds like you should get a job with the daily wail. Point is, this is a non story. Two men have sex in a gym sauna – so what? Why call the police? Chuck them out. Enough said. End of.

Well said, Edward. Kudos to the few people here mature enough to cope with the idea of gay sex in public without resorting to melodrama. To the (obviously naive) people suggesting there could have been children present, the gym is one of the few places we can actually escape the little darlings. Would any responsible parent actually take a child into a steam room where adult nudity is a given?

@ Paolo…. What are you 12? ffs. If we expect respect and complain when the religious want to be above the law we cant have it both ways and expect to get with law breaking ourselves. You are just showing yourselves to be ” we dont give a sh*t about neone and we will do as we please ” idiots…Enough already.

No paddy, it’s you who is acting like a 12 year old. “OH NO TWO MEN HAVE HAD SEX IN A GYM SAUNA – HOW DISGUSTING – CALL THE POLICE – THERE’S A MADMAN AROUND.”

Go and have a cup of tea and a scone. Then go to bed with some valium.

btw. gay people go on about religion because they try and take our freedom away. because they have treated LGBT like second class citizens for the last 2000 years. Don’t use that as a comparison. It doesn’t work. Two men had sex in a gym sauna – get over it – not comparable to what religious people do to LGBT – Enough already.

@ Edward ….You have got to be the most idiotic being ever to have breathed air. What is keeping you alive, because it is not a brain . I always thought people like you were either still born or died soon after birth.How wrong was I?

You carry on a people making comparisons but you fail to see that most people go to the gym to work out and then relax afterwards. They have the right to do so without having to confront two people having sex. Now I don’t care if thats two men, two women, one man and a woman or one man and his budgie, I don’t want to see it, end of. I just want to relax after a workout. Having paid for the gym think that would be My right.

If I do want sex I’ll go find it but somewhere it doesn’t encroach on those who don’t wish to be exposed to it.

This is all getting a bit “Ban This Sick Filth!” now. Anyone would think the Marquis de Sade had risen from the dead and strolled across our screens to present CBeebies. To summarize this particular ‘argument': Apparently some gay men can’t cope with gay sex, period, and would rather we lived in some sanitised universe where homosexuals are moderated by great PR and heterosexual culture is seen as something, not only to aspire to, but completely unaccountable and without fault. Curtain twitchers unite! To those positively chomping at the bit that the police haven’t arrested the couple (and thrown away the key!), please get some perspective. Police manpower is to be reduced dramatically over the next four years. Would you rather we prioritise serious crime or prosecute consenting adults for having sex in a private members gym? Resources are strained enough without the authorities pandering to the whim of every Nervous Nelly “horrified” by the thought of gay sex in the steam room.

I cannot see how people can call the police homophobic. It is illegal to have sex in a public area. Simple.
They broke the law, they got punished.
Also, how the heck is following the law a acceptance of heterosexual culture? Sheesh some people have got huge victim complexes.

I think they did it to discourage –once and for always- those actions and the related problems, as banning one couple does not send a message to all the “pack”. As someone who never quite understood why some people do it in that way –instead of looking for the comfort and safeguard of privacy- I understand the gyms stance. Don’t know what the tiny trifles of that particular law are so there is nothing I can say about it.

They say “get a room,” and that means two things: First, that is classist because it assumes that they have the money to rent a hotel room, and second, considering the types of “hotels” that rent to couples for express purposes of casual sex, such as the by-the-hour places, well, I think a bathroom toilet or a gym sauna is far safer and cleaner than one of those Mob-owned shanties.

I have said all i can on this subject and i am glad to see that i am not alone with my opinion of these two idiots. I am also sure that it is not the last time they will stick two fingers up with the attitude “Fcuk everyone else, we will do as we please” and leave their mess in totally inappropriate places for others to clean up after them. Anyone who says there was nothing wrong with their inconsiderate actions count the against comments and posters and you will have your answer. End.

Okay, I’m adding to the count here but this report has triggered over 200 comments, way too many (though thankfully not the majority) of which seek to defend or excuse this behavior, or take the management of the facility to task for “over-reacting”, or the police likewise for “heavy-handedness”. The issue here is that two people had sex in a public place and violated the law. There are no arguments beyond this.

1: they broke the law.
2: they called the police because they had broken the law
3: I think the gym may have given out enough warnings to some members that this behaviour is inappropriate, including placing a sign up near where these two men were caught. How many times should they turn a blind eye?
4: I’ve been to this gym and had people start masturbating in front of me in the steam and sauna rooms, when asking them to stop as it’s inappropriate they have responded with “if you don’t like it you can leave”
Withactions that blatant I can see why they called the police on this occasion.
5: not all staff at that gym are gay, in fact only two.
6: the staff are members of the public too!

why do ppl automatically assume that “oh they wouldn’t have called the police if it had been a straight couple!” what utter bollox. if it had been going on for a while (as it had here) and they had been warned/asked to stop but had flagrantly disregarded the warnings then the gym wouldve called the police. str8 or gay. There are places well known as cruising areas (used mainly by st8s) and the locals have asked for the police to stop it but they have done nothing. i caught a couple of teens at it in a farmer’s field last yr; they didnt give a toss who saw them. the farmer sorted them out!! Sex in public is just tacky. esp in a gym. FFS!

You stopped two teenagers having sex in a farmers field? Now that is sad. And what were you doing in a farmers field? Did you write ‘LUST’ on the ground when you called the farmer? And when you say the farmer sorted them out – do you mean he joined in and screwed them both?

Is this even the correct offence being discussed here. Outraging public decency has to be in a PUBLIC place. I expect that a Virgin Gym will not let me in unless I join so is no a public place. Therefore no offence of outraging PUBLIC decency?
An offence of being stupid would be far more appropriate.

There is more to this than just a gym operator deciding to call in the police in reaction to a single incident.

If you go to the City of London website you can see it part of an organised pre-planned operation:

Operations
Barbican gym watch

This initiative assists gyms in the Barbican area to pass information regarding possible undesirables on their premises. The watch consists of Virgin Active, Barbican YMCA, L.A Fitness, City Golf and Health Club, and Citypoint Club Gym.

I use this gym on a regular basis, 3-4times a week.
Even as a gay man it annoys me that I cant just use the shower/sauna without some old perv letching. Which there always is.

I must say it appers that just as many “hetro’s” are getting off in the showers (with other men) as gays.

I have complained because some people do just use the place for sex or are only crusing the showers.

The general protocal is two guys going in the disabled shower together, hardly discrete but not realy public indecency. otherNoone can actually see what they are doing.
Which is more than can be said for the straights in the jaquizzi stradling each
Totally agree very heavy handed but I guess it was the last straw and them trying to stop it.

Here’s a suggestion Virgin! put a proper screen in the disabled shower to stop people “meeting in the middle”

Why do they need police LGTB liason officers? This isn’t about gay people, this is about idiots thinking that they can get away with having sex in a gym which other people pay to use and, gay or straight, probably don’t want to walk into the sauna and see people having sex. By considering this an ‘LGTB issue’, the police (and pink news) seem to be suggesting that their shagging in the sauna is caused by them being gay. Some people are just filthy, and if these guys weren’t born sexually attracted to men, they’d probably currently be in a gym in a less gay area, getting jiggy with their girlfriends on the excercise bikes, and nobody would hear about it.

@c.j. …. How very eloquent of you. I didn’t say you targeted me but as ther would ssm to be no “bull dykes” commenting on the story your points were redundant.
I suggest increasing what ever medicine you are on as it doesn’t seem to be working anymore. A refrseher course in English and spelling may be beneficial as well. “womyn” ….really and you have the temerity to call me a circus freak.

@ e.j. i would be insulted if a moron like you was to find merit in anything i have to say. Your eloquence gives me great solace. Now crawl back under the rock you emerged from and fester……Hear, hear…….

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